Four climbers who died in an avalanche fell around 1,000 feet and ended up
buried under up to 7ft of snow, as a fifth man used his ice axe to escape
the fall, it has emerged.

Two men and two women, all in their 20s, died after being caught in an avalanche and falling 1,000ft.

A fifth man is believed to have escaped falling to his death by jumping to firmer ground and clinging to an ice axe embedded in the snow.

One 24-year-old woman from Durham was airlifted to hospital with severe head injuries after the snow-covered slope the group were crossing broke away. She is currently in a critical condition with her family by her bedside.

Glencoe (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond has described the accident as an "appalling tragedy", as a member of the rescue team likened the "brutal experience" of an avalanche to "standing on a carpet and having it pulled out from underneath you".

The climbers, all from different parts of the UK, were attempting to descend from a peak on the south side of the valley on Bidean Nam Bian, a mountain near Glencoe.

It is believed the ground they were walking on broke away suddenly, engulfing five of them and sending them 1,000ft down the mountain.

The sixth man was able to escape with minor injuries, raising the alarm along with two other climbers in a different party at around 2pm, and eventually walking down the mountain.

Glencoe Mountain Rescue deputy leader Andy Nelson (PA)

Andy Nelson, deputy head of Glencoe Mountain Rescue which attended the incident, said the climbers would have been engulfed in a "split second".

"Being in an avalanche is literally like standing on a carpet and having it pulled out from underneath you," he said. "Any thoughts of trying to swim out from out of it is futile.

"You are on steep ground, essentially standing on a raft of snow that is sliding downhill at speeds of maybe 40mph to 50mph.

"It would have unfolded in a split second, they would have felt the snow moving and then they would have been travelling at a speed that was impossible to stop.

"The man that survived was standing above the snow and we think he actually jumped and got his ice axe into firmer snow.

"They slid over some very rocky ground and ended up about 1,000 feet below, under between 1.5 and two metres of snow.

"It's a brutal experience. There are enormous forces at work and you are being twisted about at high speed."

Climbers walking on a mountain in Glencoe (Andrew Milligan/PA)

All of the missing climbers were found within four hours of the alarm being raised.

Superintendent Philip MacRae, from Northern Constabulary, said: "Our thoughts are with the families and all those who are affected by this tragic incident.

"Members of the climbing party were from different parts of the UK and a priority for us has been to trace and inform all next of kin. They have now been informed and we have family liaison officers in place."

Jonathan Hart, chairman of the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland, said: "This was a tragic event and I speak on behalf of all the mountain rescue team members involved when I say our hearts go out to the casualties and the families of all those involved.

"Everything possible was done, as part of an outstanding multi-agency response, to increase the opportunities for survival of the casualties and take them off the mountain before the hours of darkness. It is very sad that there has been such a tragic outcome."

The Rev Moira Herkes, who led a service at St Munda's Church in nearby Ballachulish, said prayers for those who had died.

She told the congregation: "We include in our prayers thoughts for the deceased in yesterday's tragic accident on the mountain and their families. Somehow life must continue. We accept the challenges of nature as part of our living.

"We also pray for the people who are injured, both physically and emotionally.

"And we give our thanks to those prepared to risk their lives in the saving of others, and do so with a sense of commitment and through thinking beyond themselves."

Climbers walking on a mountain in Glencoe (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has called it "an appalling tragedy", saying "to lose four people from a party of six is truly devastating".

He thanked the police and mountain rescue teams, adding: "Our immediate thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have been lost."

John Grieve, leader of Glencoe mountain rescue team, which co-ordinated the search, said the alarm was initially raised by two climbers - who were not part of the group of six - when they discovered one of the casualties lying in the snow.

Soon afterwards, police were contacted by the male survivor from the climbing party, who told them more people were missing.

Mr Grieve said: "The first call to police was from two other people who had been on the mountain, they found someone lying next to where they were climbing.

"So, the assumption was that it was just one casualty, but it became clear that there were others missing when they heard from the man who is safe."

He said the dead climbers were located using a technique called "probing", where a metal stick is pushed into the snow.

"I'm not sure how deeply buried they were, but using that technique would suggest it was more than a metre," Mr Grieve said.

Mark Diggins, co-ordinator of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, said the weather conditions were fairly dry with little snow over the last four days.

He said yesterday's avalanche risk was deemed "considerable", second lowest on a European four-point scale. The most serious is "very high", which is extremely rare in Britain.

"An avalanche is possible to be triggered by a single person," Mr Diggins said. "At the moment it doesn't look like there's much snow, it is very localised.

"You're really getting into areas which are 800 metres up because the wind packs the snow to make it hard."

Police are expected to interview the surviving man today to find out exactly what happened.

Bidean Nam Bian is a munro - a mountain with a height in excess of 3,000ft - with a number of different climbs.